Yes, I know the  Broncos are stuck in a conference that gets no respect. But I remember when Fresno State was making its runs at the BCS out of that conference and Fresno took a different approach. That squad would schedule the toughest non-conference teams it could.

It beat some of them, too. Now when you do that, you often have to take two road games for every home game. Or even no home games. Too bad. If you want to be ranked among the top teams — play the top teams.

This season Boise State has played Miami of Ohio, Bowling Green and UC-Davis. That’s no way to build up BCS points.

The only reason the Broncos are as high as they are in the BCS ranking is that Oregon has gotten hot and with its good record, has provided a lot of positive BCS points for Boise State. If they get passed by the Ducks, it’s probably correct.

There is no way those guys are as good as Oregon at this point of the season. And hey — who said the BCS was fair. Get your university president to lobby everyone for a playoff.

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Not totally sure they will, but they should. Why? I mean, after all they were beaten by the Broncos on opening night of the season.

Well, several things in this ridiculous system work in Oregon’s favor. It’s a cliche that with the BCS you want to lose early, if you’re going to lose. Teams have done it for years. And for many years, teams finish ahead of other teams they’ve lost games to.

If I’m voting in a poll right now, I put the Ducks ahead of Boise State. Why? Because right now they’re the better team. That’s what you have to consider when you’re voting.

Look, I said this at the time: Boise State is extremely well coached. This team can get ready to play anyone in the country for one game. But take them out of that weak conference, put them in a real conference where they’d have to play a tough opponent every week and they’d lose two or three games every season.

And yes, by jumping Oregon ahead of Boise State, you’d also create inequities in some people’s eyes that might help, eventually, tear the corrupt system down.

Great performance by the Ducks last night. Great. Cannot imagine what they’re going through right now down at USC. That was just not a Trojan team, was it? Ducks made them look like a WAC team.

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Hard to imagine it’s that time again. The opener is Sept. 3 at Boise State, of course, and I have to say I can’t remember a season when one of our teams had such a front-loaded schedule.

Bad enough that the Ducks have to go to Boise to open it, but the three games that follow are (granted, home games) against Purdue, Utah and the team picked by the media to be Pac-10 runnerup, California.

Ugh. There are no easy ones in there. All I can say is that it’s one heck of a way for a new coach to get his baptism. Obviously, so much rests on that game on the blue turf in Boise. It has the potential to be a great college football game because I can see a whole lot of points going up on the board.

Oregon has the potential for a great season, yes. But it’s going to take some amazing preparation heading into the opener. Training camp is going to have to be incredible. Coaches always tell me that a first game of a new season is always unpredictable. You just never know how players will respond and they’re likely to do some unusual (good or bad) things. It helps, at least, that so many of the skill players are back — even with a new offensive line, the Ducks should be able to rack up some points.

But for a new coach, it’s an unbelievable challenge.

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